Recovery
by OceanTide
Summary: She'd woken up alone, surrounded by remains of what seemed to be a car crash. 'Where am I? Why am I alive? Why? Why? Why...' This is the story of her recovery, her journey, her new life in a future she would have never dreamed of, with people she probably should have never met. Multi-crossover.


**Recovery**

_Chapter One_

"Focus"

Disclaimer: All shows belong to their respective owners.

A/N: I am challenging myself and my imagination. Fifty themes. Fifty chapters. Let's go.

Additional Notes: _'…'_ = thoughts. Also, this is AU for most shows. (I say 'most' because I'm not positive which shows I'll use. At least, yet. I'm positive about _'Dragon Ball Z'_ and _'Weiss Kreuz'_, but I'm open to suggestions.)

* * *

The world remained a hazy shadow even after Usagi opened her eyes. Her whole body felt hyper-sensitive as well; breathing seemed unnaturally difficult and there was a horrible burning sensation originating from her left leg. The puffs of air that managed to escape her lips were nothing more than ragged gasps, and each intake of breath burned through her tired lungs. A low sound bubbled up from her aching chest; a moan? A whimper? She herself wasn't even sure.

Slowly, carefully, she moved one arm, and then another, with eyes shut tightly from the pain the motions brought. Usagi managed to arrange herself in a way that she was propped up against something, something very cold, before she finally conceded defeat and rested.

"Everywhere…it _hurts_," she mumbled tiredly, her words barely audible. Usagi let her hands drift slowly up and down her arms, then her legs, searching for any serious injuries. Her fingers probed the sensitive flesh, wincing each time she came across what seemed like a newer bruise or a marring cut. More than once, her hands came across a thick, sticky liquid that was surprisingly warm. She lowered her head to study her hand, and was met with yet another unwelcome surprise.

She couldn't see.

She couldn't see her hand, her leg, the surface she sat on. Usagi blinked once, and then again, but her vision refused to return. Her head turned from side to side, her eyes searching for anything that stood out against the inky nothingness. Nothingness. That was all that met her gaze. Nothingness.

There was a churning feeling in her stomach; it brought tears to her eyes and a high-pitched whine was steadily building from her lips. She felt like she was going to throw up, right here, right now, right in the middle of…of this empty space. She probably _was_ going to throw up; there was the bile crawling up her throat, the queasiness in her stomach, the irregular breathing. She flattened herself against that material behind her, and tried to calm her racing heart with deep, desperate, greedy breaths.

"What…what happened to me?"

Her head swiveled back and forth, her eyes still trying to pierce through the darkness that had befallen her so quickly. Her chest still felt so constricted in contrast to her tumbling stomach. Usagi clutched at her shirt, and tried to ignore the numerous tears that dotted it. Her eyes closed, and her throat felt so, so dry. She still didn't trust her stomach to remain still. '_Breathe in. Breathe out. In, out, in, out…'_

Usagi tried to pull herself up using that…that thing behind her; it felt like a wall, she thought, a cold metal wall; but she couldn't find an edge to hang on to. She braced herself against its sleek surface, and managed to steady herself on both feet before the pain in her left leg flared up again. That leg trembled, and she found herself clutching the metal wall as if it were a life-boat, only to jerk away as if it had been set on fire. In a way, it had; the nerves on the palms of her hands were aflame, and there was that sticky substance, blood, flowing like streams through the creases of her flesh.

Lop-sided, she pressed her hands gently until she found the area that she had held on to; there were drops of her blood clinging fruitlessly to the jagged spikes of metal. Usagi's throat constricted, and her fingers followed along the grooves on the metal, tracing the ravaged areas where it seemed as if something had been torn off rather viciously.

Soon enough, her exploration was cautiously expanded to the area surrounding that strange, torn metal. On the ground she found shrapnel and glass shards and the gravel she felt underneath her bare feet was rough and cracked and cold.

For some strange, unexplainable reason, this investigation that she started was fighting off the panic that had been consuming her body moments before; it was if the fact that she would have to relearn to see the world had distracted her, or rather, made her more focused. Her hands expelled the jittery, excess energy that had been burning in her stomach, and they sought out more and more items that she thought were important, that would help her remember more than just her name, Usagi.

The panic was receding, little by little, and she no longer harbored the need to throw up the contents of her stomach. Instead, every fiber of her being was focused on her hands, her new "eyes". '_Where am I? Where am I?'_

It was going to be difficult, seeing but not really seeing. But it was the best distraction she could muster at the moment.

Scattered and buried under dug up dirt and metal scraps was a handkerchief embroidered with a bunny, glasses; or at least, she thought so, they were so mangled beyond what she thought glasses would be shaped like; and a rubbery material with a pentagon pattern. It must have been a ball, she deduced, a soccer ball, because there was a hole where the air could have escaped from, and the material felt so familiar to her.

The things that she gathered didn't seem to belong to her, but she wanted to keep them, nonetheless. Perhaps, she was not alone here. Perhaps, there had been someone else with her, and they were searching for her as desperately as she was searching for a way to escape this place. It was a small, useless hope, but it gave her her second wind.

Again she rose with shaky limbs, and her hands were full with her new-found possessions. Usagi shivered slightly when a stronger wind blew through the area, and it was because of it that she became aware of her less than acceptable attire. A thin t-shirt, cut-off shorts and tennis shoes, all partially damaged. She fingered the cloth with her free hand, feeling the holes and the cuts on her flesh that they exposed.

Something horrible had happened to her, Usagi thought. She was blind, she was alone; or at least, she thought she was, because, she had to face the fact that another person still alive besides her was only a thin, nearly impossible wish; and she was surrounded by broken metal and glass, all of which arrived here next to her by an unknown, possibly dangerous event. She was bloody and injured, and could not remember anything that had befallen her.

What was she going to do?

Surprisingly enough, she wasn't screaming or yelling or being the childish girl she expected to be. Instead, Usagi sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands. She felt liquid again, but it was tears this time. The water droplets did little to cut through the grime and dirt that covered her hands, but they felt cool and possibly even soothing against her injured skin. Usagi let out muffled sobs, the loneliness and confusion and fear that had been lurking in the back of her mind building and building until the pounded at the forefront of her thoughts. The strange noises bubbled from her throat, sounded like a wounded animal, brought her stomach tumbling down.

Usagi was well aware of the way her emotions were being flung up and down like waves crashing in the middle of the sea, that they were broken and unconnected and jumped from one to the next; from confused to panicky, from determined to pitiful. Still, the strongest feeling of all, the one that dominated the main center of her mind was fear. Doubt. Anger. Why. Why. Why.

'_Why, why, why, why…'_

Was she going to die here? Why didn't she die in whatever accident she was in? Why did she have to be here all alone? Why was she still _alive_?

That last thought jolted Usagi from her self-pity. _Why was she still alive?_ She _was_ alive. She survived. She was injured, but alive. If she was going to stay alive, shouldn't she be doing something? It wasn't right, she thought, for her to do nothing when she was still breathing. She could no longer depend on her sight, but she should at least fight to stay alive. It wasn't like her, to be this way. She gave up easily, sometimes, but for something like this, something that dealt with life or death, survival, she couldn't afford to.

She uncurled herself from the little ball she had positioned herself in and carefully brushed her hand against her cheeks. Usagi wiped away her tears, slowly forcing herself to cease her crying. Again, she breathed in and out and braced herself against the ground before pushing off. Her leg still ached, and she thought it might be horribly burned, but she could survive it for now.

The first thing on her mind was shelter. She had to focus on shelter. Everything else now, would be useless. If she couldn't find shelter, she couldn't find a safe place to rest and cover her wounds.

For now, Usagi decided, she would leave the things she found here, and maybe, just maybe, she could find a way back here so she could collect them. Maybe she could find the others who were with her too.

Slowly, cautiously, she made her way forward, occasionally wincing when she stepped on metal or glass shards, and letting out squeaks of surprise as she tripped over larger metal scraps. Once or twice, she came across rubbery circles; almost like over-sized donuts; that were burned and mangled and charred beyond recognition. She thought them to be tires; perhaps she had been in a car accident? But all these remains…

Yes, they seemed to be car parts, but what kind of accident would leave a car so…so…

She couldn't find a word to fit it. This was indescribable. It seemed as if someone had thrown the car from a hundreds of feet in the air, or set it on fire, or…or…or…

Usagi let out a little yell; she had fallen again, tripped on something rounded, she could tell. She picked herself off the gravel, before twisting around and searching the ground for the object that caused her fall. Several minutes later, her right hand smoothed over a cool, angular surface. It was rounded, no bigger than a regular stone, but it was smooth and cold and for some inexplicable reason, it calmed her.

She felt a chain connected to the stone; so it must have been a necklace. A very pretty necklace, Usagi thought, though she had to wonder how it could have survived the wreck. When she ran a finger over its surface, she could barely feel any chips or other damage to the stone. Interesting.

Usagi's fingers fumbled as she attempted to clasp the necklace around her neck, but she managed, somehow. She felt calmer wearing the necklace. It was hers, she decided, because it felt soothing and familiar and brought about her such an air of _serenity_ that it was as if the necklace warded of her fear, and the darkness that engulfed her.

If the necklace could bring back her sight, she would worship it, she swore.

'_Focus,'_ her mind whispered, '_Get a move on, you Odango Atama.'_

Oh, yes. She had to keep moving. She had to get out of this mess. She couldn't move fast enough. The need to feel safe again, to rest and be able to talk to another being face to face was overwhelming.

Usagi shuffled a little faster, and she felt a smile on her face.

She was still alone, still injured, still shaken up, but she felt different. A good different.

* * *

…That was the stupidest ending I've ever written. Oh, well. Don't expect a chapter for this anytime soon. I've got Chapter 2 partly written… maybe about… one third?


End file.
